The mere display of a gun is seen by many as an act of aggression, an implied threat.
That’s why Florida made it illegal in 1987 to walk around with a handgun on your hip or a rifle slung over your shoulder.
They called it the “Wild West loophole.” People were appalled that a just-passed concealed weapons law inadvertently removed part of an 1890s law that prohibited openly carrying a gun.
A gun owner might see nothing sinister in it, but for many, the sight of a weapon evokes images we’ve lived with too many times — teachers shielding children with their bodies against an approaching killer; young people dancing in the wee hours until they realized they were hearing gunshots instead of drumbeats; people happily competing in video games until a gunman opened fire.
After 38 years, Florida’s ban on open carry ended with a recent appeals court ruling that invoked the Second Amendment, and a recent federal case that said Florida must allow open display of firearms in public. It takes effect on Thursday, Oct. 2.
Most states have open carry
Gun rights advocates and law enforcement officials urged Floridians to stay calm. They said most states allow open carry with few problems, and that people still cannot carry guns in a number of gathering places in Florida including schools, courthouses, polling places, bars, sporting events and airline terminals. Private property owners can still ban guns on their premises.
We hope they’re right. We worry they’re wrong.
Floridians, unlike residents of other states that allow some form of open carry, are not used to seeing firearms openly displayed in public. It’s logical to worry that a road rage incident could quickly spiral out of control.
Moreover, it is becoming clearer than striking down the ban on open carry leaves gaps elsewhere in our laws.
A long-gun loophole
For example, the list of sensitive places in Florida law specifically bans handguns and any weapon that is carried concealed. It says nothing about openly carrying rifles and shotguns into schools, courtrooms and other proscribed areas.
Worst of all, the court ruling places new burdens on police officers, who in an era of mass shootings are trained to always regard the presence of firearms as a potential threat.
“Permitless and open-carry laws put law enforcement in the dangerous position of having to determine, sometimes within a split second, whether someone with a gun is exercising their rights, or intends to do harm,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina wrote in an op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel in 2023, at a time when lawmakers were considering loosening laws around carrying guns. “Permitless carry would make their jobs exponentially harder.”
The conflict between Florida law and the Second Amendment was destined to lead to the state law being stricken — and a 2020 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court made that even more obvious.
But that doesn’t change the fact that Attorney General James Uthmeier’s response to the decision by the First District Court of Appeal was to exult that open carry was now the law of the land.
Do your job, Uthmeier
Why didn’t Uthmeier appeal this case to the Florida Supreme Court?
It’s possible the court would have disagreed with the appeals court ruling, or at least acknowledged the real-life consequences of striking down the open carry ban.
As attorney general, it is Uthmeier’s job to defend the laws whether he likes them or not. The pro-gun Attorney General Pam Bondi defended Florida gun restrictions, acknowledging that her duty overrode her personal beliefs.
It’s ironic that Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended two of Florida’s elected state attorneys claiming that both refused to enforce laws they didn’t agree with. Now, the governor says nothing when his hand-picked attorney general does the same.
Uthmeier also did not see fit to communicate with local government officials who thought their offices would automatically remain gun-free. Don’t mayors and commissioners (and their constituents) deserve a little time to plan for people coming into their offices or meetings who are visibly armed?
Interestingly, the most responsible reaction to this court ruling has come from the pro-Second Amendment group that brought the case, Florida Carry. The Jacksonville-based group said it’s working with legislators on language that would return protection to most of the gun-free locations before the decision in McDaniels v. State of Florida.
This isn’t the first time Floridians have seen their unelected attorney general act with callous disregard for those he’s meant to serve. Floridians deserve better than this.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.
